Smoked Salmon Rillettes

Smoked salmon is one of those things that I always want for a ‘special’ breakfast or brunch; so, when we had the world’s best mom-in-law up for a visit, I headed to my local smokehouse and fish monger for a pound of their finest.

I’ve done smoked salmon with roasted asparagus as a kindofan Eggs Bennie casserole; but this time, I was thinkin’ rillettes (reeYet-eh) – a spread made with the salmon, some nicely spiced cheese, and butter. What’s not to love?

Oh, did I mention that this is wicked simple to toss together, and you can freeze the rillettes, well wrapped, for up to two months, so, why not enjoy some today, and put a stash in the freezer for that brunch or other gathering you have coming up?

Remove the skin from the smoked salmon and separate the meat into chunks.

Add to a food processor fitted with the metal blade and add the thyme and lemon zest.

Pulse until the salmon is broken into timy chunks, then add the butter, Boursin, paprika, Cayenne, and black pepper.

Pulse again until nicely blended together.

Give it a taste. I thought mine could use a bit of salt, so added 1/4 teaspoon of my own seasoned salt blend and pulsed another couple of times to well and truly mix.

Nice.

I had brunch for my mom-in-law and a gathering with friends coming up, so the two jars of rillettes I ended up worked a treat. One friend, who’s husband is French, told me later that he tried some when he came home from work and declared the jar to be his and his alone.